Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The proposed bill does not enhance the local government and the local administration of the Cree and Naskapi communities. If this bill impacts local government.... It does benefit, of course, the Ouje-Bougoumou Cree, who will become a new band under the act. Therefore, they will have their local government and administration in place recognized by the act.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. The Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act was enacted by Parliament in 1984, so it has been in force for about 25 years. Since the commission began preparing its reports and hearing representations from representatives of the Cree-Naskapi local government, we've always had particular recommendations concerning the implementation of the act itself.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Quickly, yes. The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement was signed in 1975 and the Northeastern Quebec Agreement was signed in 1978. So both of these agreements came into force before the Constitution Act of 1982. What we end up with is a position taken by the Cree and Naskapi nations that their treaties of 1975 and 1978 are protected under section 35 of the Constitution.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The federal government's reasoning is that they want to take the approach of looking at Cree and Naskapi governance in a global and comprehensive manner. Rather than simply looking at the act itself, they want to look at the exercise of the inherent right of governance globally.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First of all, I would have to clarify two distinct processes that the Cree–Naskapi Commission has recommended. One process involves the Cree–Naskapi leadership and the federal government reviewing the Cree–Naskapi of Quebec Act itself and determining possible amendments to the act.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to speak on our report of 2006. I wish to speak on a particular aspect of our recommendations from our 2006 report. This particular recommendation is also something that came out of our past reports.